Friday Night Bites, Bark’s newest review segment, highlights the hip places to eat and hang during your night on the town. From delicious desserts to superb suppers, the Bark knows where to go to tantalize your tastebuds.
If you’re willing to hop in the car and drive to Berkeley on a Friday night, CREAM is the place to go. With pleasantly inexpensive ice cream sandwiches, you won’t be sorry you sat in commuter traffic on the way to buy this delicious treat.
Cookies Rule Everything Around Me, also known as CREAM Inc., was founded in Berkeley, Calif. in 2010.
To order an ice cream sandwich at CREAM, you will likely have to wait in the line that often wraps out and around the small store. Once you get to the counter, you can choose what flavor of ice cream and what type of cookie you want, and the enthusiastic employees make the sandwich in front of you. Your ice cream sandwich will then be placed in a “sandwich holder” dish so you can use both hands to pay once you step up to the register.
According to CREAM’s website, Jimmy and Gus Shamieh opened the ice cream sandwhich shop and made four promises, all of which they have not strayed from as they expand their company across multiple states.
Promise #1
To provide premium products made with their own proprietary recipes. They have stayed true to this pledge through ongoing development of new recipes for ice cream flavors, cookie types and topping options. CREAM offers over 20 different ice cream flavors, 10 cookie flavors and a myriad of toppings ranging from rainbow sprinkles and nuts to rich chocolate sauce.
Promise #2
Affordability. The founders aimed to maintain low costs so that all customers could revel in the childhood memories that ice cream sandwiched between cookies brings back. With ice cream sandwiches costing the low price of only $2.99, CREAM offers an inexpensive dessert that will definitely fulfill your sweet tooth.
Promise #3
Ensure customer delight and “show you the same love you’d show your BFF.” CREAM genuinely cares about how you like your sweet treats! The menu includes gluten free and vegan cookie sandwiches, as well as a few soy ice cream options for lactose intolerant customers. There are also “specials” on the menu, including the “Cream Taco,” the “Dough-Ssant Sandwich,” and speciality milkshakes.
The “Cream Taco” is a delicious alternative to a traditional ice cream sandwich, with the choice of red velvet or regular waffle taco shells and up to three ice cream flavor options. However, the “Dough-Ssant Sandwich,” which combines a croissant and a doughnut into a breaded exterior with a choice of ice cream in the middle, results in too many flavors in one dessert. The ice cream will always be delicious, but the croissant-doughnut combo needed improvements in texture and flavor.
Promise #4
A fun atmosphere and relaxed ambiance. Often, employees will break out into an impromptu karaoke session or an improvised dance routine, adding to CREAM’s social feel. What we’re really saying is, it’s a great place to stop by with friends on a Friday night, or to take that special someone on a first date that isn’t too serious. On a weeknight the atmosphere is certainly more mellow than on the weekend, and less customers means shorter lines. However, you also miss out on the laughter and conversation that echo throughout the store and among the waiting customers in the long friday night line. At the Berkeley store, situated on the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Channing Way, you are also immersed in a lively college environment, as the location is just a few blocks from the UC Berkeley campus.
Overall, CREAM is a fun place for a delicious dessert or sweet snack. Grab a few friends, fill the gas tank and be ready to wait for 20 minutes or longer for an ice cream sandwich that definitely beats the homemade version.
